I LOVE my Fluance RT82 and its pretty affordable, well made, and looks nice. Haven't had any issues with it so far. The other RT models just have different needle cartridges and go up or down in price depending.

Nice. My dad actually bought a Fluance and he really likes his too. Will dig into them later. Thanks for the input.

Rega planar 3.

Just above your budget but not by much. Love the table. Dream boat

Ordered a fancy vacuum tube power amp yesterday. I've been watching this company called Linear Tube Audio for a while, it's a super niche company in that they purport to offer the benefits of both vacuum tubes and solid state by their use of a patented "zero hysteresis output transformer-less" design, which is actually the only tube-related patent granted since the 1950s. The upshot of the tech is that most people incorrectly associate tube "warmth" -- that is, pleasant coloration and weight from the harmonic distortion -- with the tubes, but LTA's argument is that it's actually the transformers typically used in tube amps that offer this coloration, while good tube designs offer clarity, speedy transient response, and great imaging. My experiences elsewhere make this a really compelling argument, so I'm taking a bit of a gamble but my hunch is that they're right.

So in opting for this power amp that utilizes tubes but no transformer, I'm purportedly (hopefully) getting a power amp that will handle the color of whatever pre-amp I may throw at it down the line. I could get a pre-amp with transformers and add some color and body if I'd like; or I can stay transformer-less and go for total clarity.

The short answer here is that I'm waffling on what pre-amp I will purchase, so this power amp is very much a strategic purchase that I've been saving for over some months now, and I'm excited as hell to try it out. Won't have it for a few weeks, and I also need a temporary "switch box" to route various inputs as it only has a single input, so it could be more like 4-5 weeks before I get to use it.